Methods and apparatus to collect distributed user information for media impressions

ABSTRACT

A disclosed example apparatus includes means for storing a logged media impression for a media identifier representative of media accessed via the Internet, means for communicating to send a third-party device identifier or a user identifier corresponding to the user to a database proprietor when a user has not elected to not participate in third-party tracking corresponding to online activities, and receive user information from the database proprietor based on the third-party device identifier or the user identifier, and means for processing to log a demographic impression based on the media impression and the user information, and generate an impression report corresponding to the media based on the demographic impression.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent arises from a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 16/235,902 filed Dec. 28, 2018, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/251,954 filed Aug. 30, 2016, now U.S.Pat. No. 10,205,994, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/268,871 filed Dec. 17, 2015. U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 16/235,902, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/251,954, andU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/268,871 are herebyincorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to monitoring media and, moreparticularly, to methods and apparatus to collect distributed userinformation for media impressions.

BACKGROUND

Internet-based media delivery services enable Internet users to accessmedia from different Internet media providers via their Internet serviceprovider (ISP) connections. Internet-based media delivery services maybe subscription services, may be pay-per-use services, and/or may beadvertisement-supported services. Internet-based media delivery servicesmay be accessed via personal computers, mobile devices, smarttelevisions, and/or dedicated over-the-top (OTT) devices (e.g., Rokumedia devices, AppleTV media devices, GoogleTV media devices, FireTVmedia devices, etc.).

When a user subscribes to an Internet-based media delivery service, theuser registers with a server of the Internet-based media deliveryservice to access media via the Internet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts an example system to collect opt-out privacy preferencesfrom users of an Internet media provider.

FIG. 2 depicts an example system to collect impressions and demographicinformation corresponding to usage of an example mobile appcorresponding to the example Internet media provider of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 depicts flows diagrams representative of example machine-readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the exampleserver-to-server communicator and the example audience measuremententity (AME) impression collection server of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an example processor system that may be used to executeexample machine-readable instructions of FIG. 3 to implement an exampleserver-to-server communicator of FIG. 2 in accordance with the teachingsof this disclosure.

FIG. 5 is an example processor system that may be used to executeexample machine-readable instructions of FIG. 3 to implement an exampleopt-out detector and/or an example AME impression collection server ofFIG. 2 in accordance with the teachings of this disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Techniques for monitoring user access to Internet resources such aswebpages, advertisements, and/or other content has evolved significantlyover the years. At one point in the past, such monitoring was doneprimarily through server logs. In particular, entities serving contenton the Internet would log the number of requests received for theircontent at their server. Basing Internet usage research on server logsis problematic for several reasons. For example, server logs can betampered with either directly or via zombie programs, which repeatedlyrequest content from the server to increase the server log counts.Secondly, content is sometimes retrieved once, cached locally, and thenrepeatedly viewed from the local cache without involving the server inthe repeat viewings. Server logs cannot track these views of cachedcontent. Thus, server logs are susceptible to both overcounting andundercounting errors.

The inventions disclosed in Blumenau, U.S. Pat. No. 6,108,637,fundamentally changed the way Internet monitoring is performed andovercame the limitations of the server side log-monitoring techniquesdescribed above. For example, Blumenau disclosed a technique whereinInternet content to be tracked is tagged with beacon instructions. Inparticular, monitoring instructions are associated with the HTML(Hypertext Markup Language) of the content to be tracked. When a clientrequests the content, both the content and the beacon instructions aredownloaded to the client. The beacon instructions are, thus, executedwhenever the content is accessed, be it from a server or from a cache.

The beacon instructions cause monitoring data reflecting informationabout the access to the content to be sent from the client thatdownloaded the content to a monitoring entity. Typically, the monitoringentity is an audience measurement entity that did not provide thecontent to the client and who is a trusted third party for providingaccurate usage statistics (e.g., The Nielsen Company, LLC).Advantageously, because the beaconing instructions are associated withthe content and executed by the client browser whenever the content isaccessed, the monitoring information is provided to the audiencemeasurement company irrespective of whether the client is a panelist ofthe audience measurement company.

It is useful, however, to link demographics and/or other userinformation to the monitoring information. To address this issue, theaudience measurement company establishes a panel of users who haveagreed to provide their demographic information and to have theirInternet browsing activities monitored. When an individual joins thepanel, they provide detailed information concerning their identity anddemographics (e.g., gender, race, income, home location, occupation,etc.) to the audience measurement company. The audience measuremententity sets a device and/or user identifier (a device/user identifier)on a panelist device such as a desktop/laptop computer and/or mobiledevice that enables the audience measurement entity to identify thepanelist whenever the panelist accesses tagged content and, thus, sendsmonitoring information to the audience measurement entity. In examplesinvolving Internet-access applications or apps that accept cookies inconnection with accessing Internet media (e.g., desktop web browsersthat accept cookies, mobile web browsers that accept cookies, and/or anyother Internet-access applications and/or apps that accept cookies), theaudience measurement entity sets a cookie on the panelist device. Inexamples involving Internet-access applications or apps that do notaccept cookies in connection with accessing Internet media (e.g., mobileapps and/or any other Internet-access applications and/or apps that donot accept cookies), the audience measurement entity sets and/or uses anon-cookie device/user identifier (and/or any local storage containersuch as HTML5 Local Data Stores) on the panelist device.

Since most of the clients providing monitoring information from thetagged pages are not panelists and, thus, are unknown to the audiencemeasurement entity, it is necessary to use statistical methods to imputedemographic information based on the data collected for panelists to thelarger population of users providing data for the tagged content.However, panel sizes of audience measurement entities remain smallcompared to the general population of users. Thus, a problem ispresented as to how to increase panel sizes while ensuring thedemographic data of the panel is accurate.

There are many database proprietors operating on the Internet. Thesedatabase proprietors provide services to large numbers of subscribers.In exchange for the provision of the service, the subscribers registerwith the proprietor. As part of this registration, the subscribersprovide detailed demographic information. Examples of such databaseproprietors include social network providers such as Facebook, Myspace,etc. These database proprietors set cookies on the computers of theirsubscribers to enable the database proprietor to recognize users whenthey visit the database proprietor's website. Some database proprietorsset and/or employ non-cookie device/user identifiers on client devicesfor use with apps that do not use cookies.

The protocols of the Internet make cookies inaccessible outside of thedomain (e.g., Internet domain, domain name, etc.) on which they wereset. Thus, a cookie set in the Amazon.com domain is accessible toservers in the Amazon.com domain, but not to servers outside thatdomain. Therefore, although an audience measurement entity might find itadvantageous to access the cookies set by the database proprietors, theyare unable to do so. In addition, apps that run on mobile deviceplatforms do not use cookies in the same way as web browsers. Althoughapps do present media that is worthy of impression tracking, priortechniques that use cookie-based approaches for tracking such mediaimpressions are unusable in the app environment context.

The inventions disclosed in Mainak et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,370,489,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, enableaudience measurement entities (AMEs) to leverage the existing databasesof database proprietors to collect more extensive Internet usage anddemographic data by extending the beaconing process to encompasspartnered database proprietors and by using such partners as interimdata collectors. The inventions disclosed in Mainak et al. accomplishthis task by structuring an AME to respond to beacon requests fromclients (who may not be a member of an audience member panel and, thus,may be unknown to the audience member entity) and redirect the clientfrom the audience measurement entity to a database proprietor, such as asocial networking site partnered with the audience member entity. Theredirection initiates a communication session between the clientaccessing the tagged media and the database proprietor. The databaseproprietor (e.g., Facebook) can access any cookie it has set on theclient to thereby identify the client based on the internal records ofthe database proprietor. In the event that the client corresponds to asubscriber of the database proprietor, the database proprietor logs animpression in association with the demographic data associated with theclient and subsequently forwards logged impressions to the audiencemeasurement company. In the event that the client does not correspond toa subscriber of the database proprietor, the database proprietor mayredirect the client to the audience measurement entity and/or anotherdatabase proprietor. The audience measurement entity may respond to theredirection from the first database proprietor by redirecting the clientto a second, different database proprietor that is partnered with theaudience measurement entity. That second database proprietor may thenattempt to identify the client, as explained above. This process ofredirecting the client from database proprietor to database proprietorcan be performed any number of times until the client is identified andthe content exposure logged, or until all database partners have beencontacted without a successful identification of the client. Theredirections all occur automatically, so the user of the client is notinvolved in the various communication sessions and may not even knowthey are occurring.

Periodically or aperiodically, the partnered database proprietorsprovide their logs and demographic information to the audiencemeasurement entity, which then compiles the collected data intostatistical reports accurately identifying the demographics of personsaccessing the tagged media. Because the identification of clients isdone with reference to enormous databases of users far beyond thequantity of persons present in a conventional audience measurementpanel, the data developed from this process is extremely accurate,reliable, and detailed.

Significantly, because the audience measurement entity remains the firstleg of the data collection process (e.g., receives the request generatedby the beacon instructions from the client), the audience measuremententity is able to obscure the source of the media access being logged aswell as the identity of the media itself from the database proprietors(thereby protecting the privacy of the media sources), withoutcompromising the ability of the database proprietors to log impressionsfor their subscribers. Further, when cookies are used as device/useridentifiers, the Internet security cookie protocols are complied withbecause the only servers that access a given cookie are associated withthe Internet domain (e.g., Facebook.com) that set that cookie.

Examples disclosed in Mainak et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 8,370,489) can beused to determine any type of media impressions or exposures (e.g.,content impressions, advertisement impressions, content exposure, and/oradvertisement exposure) using demographic information, which isdistributed across different databases (e.g., different website owners,service providers, etc.) on the Internet. Not only do such disclosedexamples enable more accurate correlation of Internet advertisementexposure to demographics, but they also effectively extend panel sizesand compositions beyond persons participating in the panel of anaudience measurement entity and/or a ratings entity to personsregistered in other Internet databases, such as the databases of socialmedia sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc. Such extensionseffectively leverage the media tagging capabilities of the ratingsentity and the use of databases of nonratings entities, such as socialmedia and other websites, to create an enormous, demographicallyaccurate panel that results in accurate, reliable measurements ofexposures to Internet media, such as advertising and/or programming.

The inventions disclosed in Burbank et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,930,701,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, enableaudience measurement entities to leverage the existing databases ofdatabase proprietors to collect more extensive Internet usage anddemographic data and/or user data for associating with media impressionstracked on devices that execute apps that do not employ cookies, whichare more commonly used in web browsers. Burbank et al. overcame numerouschallenges faced by audience measurement entities in accomplishing thisend. For example, Burbank et al. disclosed how to access the data of thedatabase proprietors without compromising the privacy of thesubscribers, the panelists, or the proprietors of the tracked content.Burbank et al. also disclosed how to access this data given thetechnical restrictions imposed by app software platforms of mobiledevices that do not employ cookies.

Many Internet media providers that provide media and services over theInternet, such as Twitter, CNN, the New York Times, Hulu, Amazon, etc.,would like to measure the media access habits of audience members.However, due to Internet privacy policies, such Internet media providersmust provide “opt-out” options for users who do not wish to have theirInternet activities tracked using third-party tracking technologies. Insome instances, Internet media providers have gone further by enforcingsite-wide policies that prohibit third-party entities from performingtracking using techniques that would transmit impression requests (e.g.,beacon requests) from the Internet media provider websites tothird-party impression collection servers. In this manner, the Internetmedia providers ensure that all users, regardless of whether they chooseto “opt out” of third-party tracking, will not have their Internetactivities on the Internet media providers' websites tracked bythird-party entities. Such third-party tracking prevention policies makeit difficult to use the teachings of Mainak et al. (U.S. Pat. No.8,370,489) to collect impressions for Internet media because suchteachings send impression requests for accessed Internet media tothird-party servers to log impressions and/or obtain the demographics ofInternet users. However, broadly applying such protections to all users,regardless of whether they are opt-out or non-opt-out users, limits theInternet media providers' abilities to track Internet activities of thenon-opt-out users. That is, some users may not elect to opt out ofthird-party tracking. As such, although an Internet media provider hasan opportunity to track Internet activities of such non-opt-out users,the Internet media provider's general policy to prevent any third-partytracking does not allow third-party tracking of even the non-opt-outusers.

As explained above, leveraging existing databases of third-partydatabase proprietors is advantageous because of the opportunity that itcreates to collect more extensive Internet usage and demographic dataand/or user data for associating with media impressions tracked ondevices. As such, even though Internet media providers may enforcesite-wide policies against third-party tracking for all opt-out usersand non-opt-out users, such Internet media providers would still like tobenefit from being able to use third-party tracking of Internetactivities associated with non-opt-out users without compromising theprivacy of opt-out users.

Examples disclosed herein enable Internet media providers to partner andwork with audience measurement entities and/or third-party databaseproprietors to be able to measure Internet activities of non-opt-outusers so that impressions can be logged for media accessed via theInternet by those non-opt-out users and so that the demographicscorresponding to such non-opt-out users can be obtained withoutcompromising the privacy safeguards elected by the opt-out users.Examples disclosed herein additionally or alternatively enable obtainingsuch demographics corresponding to non-opt out users without violatingcorporate policies of Internet media providers and/or databaseproprietors such as policies against Internet universe resource locator(URL) calls being made outside the domain(s) of the Internet mediaproviders and/or database providers, policies against downloadingsoftware not written or provided by the Internet media providers and/ordatabase proprietors. In this manner, the Internet media providersand/or database proprietors can have more control over performance(e.g., website speed), more control over user experience, more controlover software configuration management (e.g., to better control softwarebeing run on their websites, to substantially reduce or prevent HTTP 404Not Found error messages, etc.), and limiting risk of malware from beingdownloaded to users of the Internet media providers and/or databaseproprietors via third parties.

Examples disclosed herein can be used to determine content impressions,advertisement impressions, content exposure, advertisement exposure,and/or any other type of media impressions and/or exposure using userinformation, which is distributed across different databases (e.g.,different website owners, service providers, etc.) on the Internet. Notonly do examples disclosed herein enable more accurate correlation ofInternet media exposure to user information, but they also effectivelyextend panel sizes and compositions beyond persons participating in thepanel of an audience measurement entity and/or a ratings entity topersons registered in other Internet databases of database proprietors,such as the databases of wireless service carriers, mobilesoftware/service providers, social media sites (e.g., Facebook, Twitter,Google, etc.), and/or any other Internet sites, such as Yahoo!, MSN,Apple iTunes, Experian, etc. This extension effectively leverages themedia impression tracking capabilities of the audience measuremententity and the use of databases of non-AME entities, such as socialmedia and other websites, to create an enormous, demographicallyaccurate panel that results in accurate, reliable measurements ofexposures to Internet content, such as advertising and/or programming.

Traditionally, audience measurement entities (also referred to herein as“ratings entities”) determine demographic reach for advertising andmedia programming based on registered panel members. That is, anaudience measurement entity enrolls people who consent to beingmonitored into a panel. During enrollment, the audience measuremententity receives demographic information from the enrolling people sothat subsequent correlations may be made between advertisement/mediaexposure to those panelists and different demographic markets. Unliketraditional techniques, in which audience measurement entities relysolely on their own panel member data to collect demographics-basedaudience measurement, example methods, apparatus, and/or articles ofmanufacture disclosed herein enable an audience measurement entity toshare demographic information with other entities that operate based onuser registration models. As used herein, a user registration model is amodel in which users subscribe to services of those entities by creatingan account and providing demographic-related information aboutthemselves. Sharing of demographic information associated withregistered users of database proprietors enables an audience measuremententity to extend or supplement their panel data with substantiallyreliable demographic information from external sources (e.g., databaseproprietors), thus extending the coverage, accuracy, and/or completenessof their demographics-based audience measurements. Such access alsoenables the audience measurement entity to monitor persons who would nototherwise have joined an audience measurement panel. Any entity having adatabase identifying the demographics of a set of individuals maycooperate with the audience measurement entity. Such entities may bereferred to as “database proprietors” and include entities such aswireless service carriers, mobile software/service providers, socialmedia sites (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.), and/or any otherInternet sites, such as Yahoo!, MSN, Apple iTunes, Experian, etc.

Examples disclosed herein may be implemented by Internet media providersand an audience measurement entity (e.g., any entity interested inmeasuring or tracking audience exposures to advertisements, content,and/or any other media) in cooperation with any number of databaseproprietors, such as online web services providers, to develop onlinemedia exposure metrics. Such database proprietors/online web servicesproviders may be wireless service carriers, mobile software/serviceproviders, social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, MySpace,etc.), multiservice sites (e.g., Yahoo!, Google, Experian, etc.), onlineretailer sites (e.g., Amazon.com, Buy.com, etc.), and/or any other webservice(s) sites that maintain user registration records.

In some examples, to increase the likelihood that measured audienceshipor viewership is accurately attributed to the correct demographics,examples disclosed herein use user information located in the audiencemeasurement entity's records and/or user information located at one ormore database proprietors that maintain records or profiles of usershaving accounts therewith. In this manner, examples disclosed herein maybe used to supplement user information maintained by a ratings entity(e.g., an audience measurement entity such as The Nielsen Company ofSchaumburg, Ill., United States of America, which collects mediaexposure measurements, demographics, and/or other user information) withuser information from one or more different database proprietors.

The use of demographic information from disparate data sources (e.g.,high-quality demographic information from the panels of an audiencemeasurement company and/or registered user data of web serviceproviders) results in improved reporting effectiveness of metrics forboth online and offline advertising campaigns. Example techniquesdisclosed herein use online registration data and/or other userinformation to identify demographics of users, and use server impressioncounts and/or other techniques to track quantities of impressionsattributable to those users. Online web service providers such aswireless service carriers, mobile software/service providers, socialnetworking sites (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc.), multiservicesites (e.g., Yahoo!, Google, Experian, etc.), and online retailer sites(e.g., Amazon.com, Buy.com, etc.), etc. (collectively and individuallyreferred to herein as online database proprietors) maintain detaileddemographic information (e.g., age, gender, geographic location, race,income level, education level, religion, etc.) collected via userregistration processes. An impression corresponds to a home orindividual having been exposed to the corresponding media content and/oradvertisement. Thus, an impression represents a home or an individualhaving been exposed to an advertisement or content or group ofadvertisements or content. In Internet advertising, a quantity ofimpressions or impression count is the total number of times anadvertisement or advertisement campaign has been accessed by a webpopulation (e.g., including number of times accessed as decreased by,for example, pop-up blockers and/or increased by, for example, retrievalfrom local cache memory).

FIG. 1 depicts an example system 100 to collect opt-out privacypreferences from users of an example Internet media provider 102. In theillustrated example, a user accesses media of the Internet mediaprovider 102 via an example client device 104. The example client device104 may be any device capable of presenting media received via networkcommunications, such as a mobile phone, a mobile communication device, atablet, a gaming device, a portable media presentation device, anInternet appliance, a smart television, an Internet terminal, acomputer, a laptop, etc. In some examples, the client device 104 is anover-the-top (OTT) device that accesses or streams media from theInternet media provider 102. Example OTT devices include a Roku mediadevice, an AppleTV media device, a GoogleTV media device, a FireTV mediadevice, a gaming console (e.g., a Microsoft Xbox gaming console, a SonyPlayStation gaming console, etc.), a smart DVD player, anaudio-streaming device, etc. An example OTT device decodes mediareceived from the Internet media provider 102 and outputs the decodedmedia to a media presentation device for presentation. Example mediapresentation devices may be televisions, monitors, audio receivers,audio amplifiers, etc. In some examples, an OTT device is integrated ina media presentation device (e.g., smart televisions, connectedtelevisions, etc.).

The example Internet media provider 102 is an entity that providesInternet-based media and/or services via websites and/or mobile apps.For example, the Internet media provider 102 may be Twitter, CNN, theNew York Times, Nefflix, Hulu, Amazon, or any other Internet-basedservice. In the illustrated example, an opt-out privacy preference is anoption that users may select to not allow third-party tracking of theirInternet activities on websites served by the Internet media provider.To collect and enforce opt-out privacy preference selections of users,the Internet media provider 102 works with an example audiencemeasurement entity (AME) 108. In the illustrated example, the AME 108performs third-party tracking of Internet activities. As such, when auser elects to opt-out of third-party tracking in connection with theInternet media provider 102, the AME 108 is not allowed to performtracking of that user's Internet activities on websites served by theInternet media provider 102. In the illustrated example, the Internetmedia provider 102 and the AME 108 operate in separate Internet domains.As such, when third-party tracking involves cookies, cookies set on theclient device 104 by the Internet media provider 102 are not accessibleto the AME 108, and cookies set on the client device 104 by the AME 108are not accessible by the Internet media provider 102 due to Internetprivacy standards. When third-party tracking involves non-cookiedevice/user IDs, a device/user ID corresponding to the Internet mediaprovider 102 may not be accessible to the AME 108.

In the illustrated example, the Internet media provider 102 includes anexample privacy policy webpage server 110, an example main websiteserver 112, and an example Internet media provider subscriber profilesdatabase 114 (e.g., an example subscriber profiles database 114). Theexample privacy policy webpage server 110 serves a privacy policywebpage of the Internet media provider 102 to users along with auser-selectable option to opt out of third-party tracking. In theillustrated example, the user-selectable option to opt out ofthird-party tracking redirects users to a privacy policy webpage of theAME 108. The example main website server 112 serves webpages of theInternet media provider 102 to users so that users can access and/orinteract with media, services, and/or any information provided by theInternet media provider 102. In examples disclosed herein, mediaincludes advertisements, video, audio, text, graphics, webpages, news,educational media, entertainment media, or any other type of media. Theexample subscriber profiles database 114 is used by the Internet mediaprovider 102 to store subscriber account information, includingsubscriber identifiers 118 and opt-out flags 120. The subscriberidentifiers 118 may be login usernames, user handles, user screen names,and/or any other identifier used by the Internet media provider 102 touniquely identify its registered subscribers (e.g., a Twitter user ID ifthe Internet media provider 102 is Twitter, a Facebook user ID if theInternet media provider 102 is Facebook, a Google user ID if theInternet media provider 102 is Google, etc.). The opt-out flags 120 areindicative of whether corresponding subscribers of the Internet mediaprovider 102 have elected the opt-out option to prevent third-partytracking of their Internet activities of websites of the Internet mediaprovider 102. As such, the opt-out flags 120 are indicative of whichsubscribers are opt-out users and which subscribers are non-opt-outusers.

The AME 108 of the illustrated example includes an example AME privacypolicy webpage server 124. The example AME privacy policy webpage server124 serves a privacy policy webpage of the AME 108 to users along with auser-selectable option to opt out of third-party tracking.

In operation, to set an opt-out preference with the Internet mediaprovider 102, a user visits a privacy policy webpage served by theprivacy policy webpage server 110 of the Internet media provider 102, asindicated at reference number 126. On the privacy policy webpage of theInternet media provider 102, there is a disclosure that the Internetmedia provider 102 uses the AME 108 for third-party tracking. Theprivacy policy webpage of the Internet media provider 102 also providesa hyperlink to direct the client device 104 to the AME's privacy policywebpage. When the user selects the hyperlink, the user is redirected toa privacy policy webpage served by the AME privacy policy webpage server124 of the AME 108, as shown at reference number 128.

On the privacy policy webpage of the AME 108, there is a user-selectableopt-out option to opt out of participation in the AME's third-partytracking for all browser interactions with webpages of the Internetmedia provider 102. When the user selects the user-selectable opt-outoption, the AME privacy policy webpage server 124 sets an AME opt-outflag or setting on the client device 104, as shown at reference number130. In some examples, the AME opt-out flag or setting is in the form ofan opt-out cookie. Additionally or alternatively, the AME opt-out flagor setting is in the form of a bit and/or parameter setting in aconfiguration field to be stored at the client device 104. Also atreference number 130, the AME privacy policy webpage server 124 sendsthe client device 104 a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) redirectresponse to instruct the client device 104 to send an HTTP request tothe main website server 112 of the Internet media provider 102 to informthe Internet media provider 102 that the user has elected to opt out ofparticipation in third-party tracking. In the illustrated example, inresponse to the HTTP redirect from the AME privacy policy webpage server124, the client device 104 sends the HTTP request to the client device102, as shown at reference number 132. The HTTP request communicated bythe client device 104 at reference number 132 includes the subscriber ID118 of the user of the client device 104 and the opt-out flag 120,indicative of the user's opt-out preference election. In the illustratedexample, the HTTP request of reference number 132 is a “dummy” requestfor an image (e.g., a 1×1 pixel). In some examples, the main websiteserver 112 may respond to the client device 102 with the requested image(e.g., a 1×1 pixel) or may not respond at all to the HTTP request.However, a response by the main website server 112 to the HTTP requestfrom the client device 104 at reference number 132 is not necessary solong as the main website server 112 receives the HTTP request, includingthe subscriber ID 118 and the opt-out flag 120, indicative of the user'sopt-out preference selection.

When the main website server 112 receives the subscriber ID 118 and theopt-out flag 120, the main website server 112 stores the opt-out flag120 as set (e.g., to disable third-party tracking) in association withthe subscriber ID 118 in the subscriber profiles database 114 for theuser of the client device 104 at reference numeral 134. However, inexamples in which the client device 104 does not provide the subscriberID 118 at reference number 132, the main website server 112 does notstore the received opt-out flag 120 in the subscriber profiles database114, because the main website server 112 would not be able to identifythe user of the client device 104 without the subscriber ID 118.

In examples in which the client device 104 is a computer or other devicecapable of executing a web browser that accepts cookies, the subscriberID 118 of the user may be obtained by the main website server 112, basedon an Internet media provider cookie set in the client device 104 andcommunicated to the main website server 112 at reference number 132. Inexamples in which the client device 104 is an OTT device that does notsupport cookies, the subscriber ID 118 (which may be hashed) could beincluded by the privacy policy webpage server 110 in a uniform resourcelocator (URL) link that directs the OTT client device 104 to the AMEprivacy policy webpage server 124. In this manner, the OTT client device104 uses the URL link from the privacy policy webpage server 110 toprovide the subscriber ID 118 to the AME privacy policy webpage server124 in the URL at reference number 128, and the AME privacy policywebpage server 124 returns the subscriber ID 118 to the OTT clientdevice 104 for placement by the OTT client device 104 in a parameter ofthe HTTP request sent by the OTT client device 104 to the main websiteserver 112 of the Internet media provider 102 at reference number 132.

In some alternative examples, the privacy policy webpage of the AME 108could be copied to and served by the privacy policy webpage server 110of the Internet media provider 102. In such alternative examples, theuser of the client device 104 may select an opt-out preference via theprivacy policy webpage server 110, corresponding to the AME third-partytracking. As such, the privacy policy webpage server 110 could log theopt-out flag 120 in association with the subscriber ID 118 in thesubscriber profiles database 114, without requiring the user toseparately visit the AME privacy policy webpage served by the AMEprivacy policy webpage server 124 to select the opt-out preference. Insuch alternative examples, the privacy policy webpage server 110 couldsend the opt-out flag 120 to the AME 108 to inform the AME 108 that theuser of the client device 104 has selected to opt out of third-partytracking.

FIG. 2 depicts an example system 200 to collect impressions anddemographic information corresponding to usage of an example app program202, corresponding to the example Internet media provider 102 of FIG. 1.In the illustrated example, the app program 202 is installed on andexecuted by a mobile client device 204 (e.g., a mobile device 202). Forexample, the mobile device 202 may be a mobile phone, a tablet, a gamingdevice, a mobile media presentation device, or any other mobile devicethat executes apps for accessing Internet media from, for example, theInternet media provider 102. In the illustrated example, the Internetmedia provider 102 includes an example app server 206 to serve media tothe app program 202. In the illustrated example, the same user uses boththe mobile device 204 and the client device 104 to access media from theInternet media provider 102.

In the illustrated example, the Internet media provider 102 includes aserver-to-server communicator 210 to perform server-to-servercommunications with the AME 108. In the illustrated example, the AME 108includes an example AME impression collection server 214 to logimpressions in an example AME media impressions database 216. The AME108 of the illustrated example also includes an example opt-out detector218 to determine when users have elected to opt out of participating inthird-party tracking. In the illustrated example, the example server 214sends impression information to example database proprietors 220 a, 220b to receive user information 222 a, 222 b from the database proprietors220 a, 220 b corresponding to the impression information. In thismanner, the AME 108 can log demographic impressions. In the illustratedexample, user information or user data 222 a, 222 b includes one or moreof demographic data, purchase data, and/or other data indicative of useractivities, behaviors, and/or preferences related to informationaccessed via the Internet, purchases, media accessed on electronicdevices, physical locations (e.g., retail or commercial establishments,restaurants, venues, etc.) visited by users, etc. In examples disclosedherein, a demographic impression is defined to be an impression that isassociated with a characteristic (e.g., a demographic characteristic) ofa person exposed to media.

In operation in the illustrated example, a user uses the app program 202to log into a user account at the Internet media provider 102 atreference number 226. In the login process at reference number 226, theexample app program 202 sends the subscriber ID 118 of the user and oneor more third-party device/user identifier(s) 228 set in the mobiledevice 204. In some examples, the third-party device/user identifier(s)228 are hashed or encrypted to prevent any intermediate or interceptingparties from discovering the identity of the user of the mobile device204. Example manners that may be used to send the subscriber ID 118 andthe third-party device/user identifier(s) 228 to the app server 206 aredisclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,930,701, which is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety.

In the illustrated example, the third-party device/user identifier(s)228 is an identifier that can be used by corresponding ones of thepartner database proprietors 220 a-b to identify the user of the mobiledevice 204, and to locate user information 222 a-b corresponding to theuser in subscriber account profiles/records of those partner databaseproprietors 220 a-b. For example, the third-party device/useridentifier(s) 228 may be non-cookie device/user identifiers that includehardware identifiers (e.g., an international mobile equipment identity(IMEI), a mobile equipment identifier (MEID), a media access control(MAC) address, etc.), an app store identifier (e.g., a Google AndroidID, an Apple ID, an Amazon ID, etc.), a unique device identifier (UDID)(e.g., a non-proprietary UDID or a proprietary UDID such as used on theMicrosoft Windows platform), an open-source unique device identifier(OpenUDID), an open device identification number (ODIN), a loginidentifier (e.g., a username), an email address, user agent data (e.g.,application type, operating system, software vendor, software revision,etc.), an Ad-ID (e.g., an advertising ID introduced by Apple, Inc. foruniquely identifying mobile devices for the purposes of servingadvertising to such mobile devices), an Identifier for Advertisers(IDFA) (e.g., a unique ID for Apple iOS devices that mobile ad networkscan use to serve advertisements), a Google Advertising ID, a Roku ID(e.g., an identifier for a Roku OTT device), third-party serviceidentifiers (e.g., advertising service identifiers, device usageanalytics service identifiers, demographics collection serviceidentifiers), etc. In some examples, fewer or more device/useridentifier(s) 228 may be used. In addition, although only two partnerdatabase proprietors 220 a-b are shown in FIG. 2, the AME 108 maypartner with any number of partner database proprietors to collectdistributed user information (e.g., the user information 222 a-b).

In some examples, the types of third-party device/user identifiers 228are different from device to device, depending on the type of device,the manufacturer of the device, the software installed on the device,etc. For example, a mobile device having cellular 2G, 3G, and/or 4Gcapabilities will have an assigned IMEI number. However, a mobile devicecapable of Wi-Fi, but not having cellular communication capabilities,will not have an IMEI number. As such, one or more other parameter(s) ofthe Wi-Fi mobile device may be used as the device/user identifiers 228.Such other parameters may include, for example, a MAC address, a loginID, or any other identifier or information available to the Wi-Ficapable device and that is not specific to cellular communications.

By being able to select or access multiple different types ofthird-party device/user identifiers 228, the AME 108 increases theopportunities for collecting corresponding user information from partnerdatabase proprietors, such as the partner database proprietors 220 a-b.For example, the AME 108 is not tied to requesting user information froma single source (e.g., only one of the partner database proprietors 220a-b). Instead, the AME 108 can leverage relationships with multiplepartner database proprietors (e.g., the partner database proprietors 220a-b). If one or some partner database proprietors are unable or becomeunwilling to share user data, the AME 108 can request the user data fromone or more other partner database proprietor(s).

In some examples, the mobile device 204 may not allow access toidentification information stored in the mobile device 204. For suchinstances, the disclosed examples enable the AME 108 to store anAME-provided identifier (e.g., an identifier managed and tracked by theAME 108) in the mobile device 204 to track media impressions on themobile device 204. For example, the AME 108 may provide instructions inthe app program 202 to set an AME-provided identifier in memory spaceaccessible by and/or allocated to the app program 202, and the appprogram 202 uses the identifier as a third-party device/user identifier228. In such examples, the AME-provided identifier set by the appprogram 202 persists in the memory space even when the app program 202is not running. In this manner, the same AME-provided identifier canremain associated with the mobile device 204 for extended durations. Insome examples in which the app program 202 sets an identifier in themobile device 204, the AME 108 may recruit a user of the mobile device204 as a panelist, and may store user information collected from theuser during a panelist registration process and/or collected bymonitoring user activities/behavior via the mobile device 204 and/or anyother device used by the user and monitored by the AME 108. In thismanner, the AME 108 can associate user information of the user (frompanelist data stored by the AME 108) with media impressions attributedto the user on the mobile device 204.

After the login process at reference number 226, the app server 206stores the third-party device/user identifier(s) 228 in association withthe subscriber ID 118 in the subscriber profiles database 114 in asubscriber profile of the user of the mobile device 204 at referencenumber 229. At some later time (e.g., minutes later, hours later, dayslater, etc.), the user of the mobile device 204 uses a web browser orother user interface of the client device 104 to log into a service ofthe Internet media provider 102 via the main website server 112 atreference number 230. In the illustrated example, when the client device104 is accessing webpages or other Internet-accessible information ofthe Internet media provider 102, the client device 104 cannot send athird-party tracking communication to the AME 108 due to the generalpolicy of preventing any third-party tracking that is enforced by theInternet media provider 102 for all opt-out and non-opt-out users.

During the login process at reference number 230, the main websiteserver 112 of the Internet media provider 102 obtains an Internet mediaprovider device/user ID 232 that is on the client device 104. In thismanner, the Internet media provider 102 can use the Internet mediaprovider device/user ID 232 to identify the subscriber ID 118 of theuser of the client device 104. In some examples, the Internet mediaprovider device/user ID 232 is the subscriber ID 118 or includes thesubscriber ID 118 in hashed or encrypted format or in non-hashed ornon-encrypted format. In such examples, the Internet media provider 102can access the subscriber ID 118 directly from the Internet mediaprovider device/user ID 232. In other examples, the Internet mediaprovider device/user ID 232 may be an identifier that is different fromthe subscriber ID 118 and that does not, alone, reveal an identity of auser corresponding to the subscriber ID 118. That is, while thesubscriber ID 118 may be a login username, a user handle, a user screenname, etc. which, by itself, could be used by others that are not theInternet media provider 102 to identify the corresponding user, theInternet media provider device/user ID 232 can be a string ofalphanumeric characters and/or symbols that, alone, does not reveal auser identity. In such examples in which the Internet media providerdevice/user ID 232 is an identifier different from the subscriber ID118, the Internet media provider 102 stores the Internet media providerdevice/user ID 232 in association with the corresponding subscriber ID118 in the subscriber profiles 114 so that the subscriber ID 118 can bedetermined by the Internet media provider 102 based on the Internetmedia provider device/user ID 232.

For examples in which the client device 104 is a device that employscookies (e.g., a device that executes a web browser or apps that employcookies), the Internet media provider device/user ID 232 may be a cookie(e.g., a cookie that includes the subscriber ID 118 or a cookie thatdoes not include the subscriber ID 118 but can be used to access thesubscriber ID 118 in the subscriber profiles database 114). For examplesin which the client device 104 is an OTT device that does not employcookies, the OTT client device 104 may alternatively send non-cookieidentifier as the device/user ID 232 that is associated with the OTTclient device 104 or an app program on the OTT client device 104 to themain website server 112 at reference number 230 so that the Internetmedia provider 102 may use such non-cookie identifier from the OTTclient device 104 to identify the subscriber ID 118 of the user of theOTT client device 104. For example, the non-cookie identifier used asthe device/user ID 232 can include the subscriber ID 118 or, if it doesnot include the subscriber ID 118, can be used to access the subscriberID 118 in the subscriber profiles database 114. Examples usable by theOTT client device 104 for communicating identifiers associated with theOTT client device 104 or an app program on the OTT client device 104 tothe Internet media provider 102 are disclosed in Splaine et al., U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/823,621, filed on Aug. 11, 2015, andtitled, “Methods and Apparatus to Collect Impressions Associated withOver-The-Top Media Devices,” which is hereby incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety.

In the illustrated example, the main website server 112 determines thesubscriber ID 118 based on the Internet media provider device/user ID232 received at reference number 230. For example, the main websiteserver 112 can access the subscriber ID 118 directly from the Internetmedia provider device/user ID 232 or can access the subscriber ID 118 inthe subscriber profiles database 114 by performing a look-up operationin the subscriber profiles database 114 based on the Internet mediaprovider device/user ID 232. At reference number 234, the example mainwebsite server 112 sends the subscriber ID 118 to the exampleserver-to-server communicator 210. In the illustrated example, theserver-to-server communicator 210 uses the subscriber ID 118 to look upthe subscriber profile of the user of the client device 104 in thesubscriber profiles database 114. In this manner, the exampleserver-to-server communicator 210 can obtain the third-party device useridentifier(s) 228 that were stored in the subscriber profile by the appserver 206 at reference number 229 and the corresponding opt-out flag120 (FIG. 1) that was stored in the subscriber profiles database 114 atreference number 134 of FIG. 1. In this manner, locating thecorresponding third-party device user identifier(s) 228 and the opt-outflag 120 based on the subscriber ID 118 obtained at reference number234, the Internet media provider 102 can elect to track exposures tomedia accessed by the corresponding user via the client device 104, solong as the opt-out flag 120 corresponding to the user does not indicatethat the user elected to opt out of participation in third-partytracking.

Although FIG. 2 shows that the main website server 112 sends thesubscriber ID 118 to the example server-to-server communicator 210 atreference number 234, in other examples, the main website server 112 mayinstead send the Internet media provider device/user ID 232 to theexample server-to-server communicator 210 at reference number 234. Insuch examples, the server-to-server communicator 210 obtains thethird-party device user identifier(s) 228 and the corresponding opt-outflag 120 from the subscriber profiles database 114 based on the Internetmedia provider device/user ID 232.

When there is media on a webpage of the Internet media provider 102,accessed by the client device 104, that the Internet media provider 102would like tracked or measured for impressions by the AME 108, theexample server-to-server communicator 210 sends a server-to-server pingor communication to the AME impression collection server 214 atreference number 238. In the illustrated example, the server-to-serverping or communication at reference number 238 includes the opt-out flag120 (FIG. 1) corresponding to the user of the client device 104, thethird-party device/user identifier(s) 228, and a media identifier of theaccessed media that the Internet media provider 102 would like trackedor measured. In the illustrated example, the AME impression collectionserver 214 logs a media impression in the AME media impressions database216 for the accessed media. In addition, the example opt-out detector218 of the AME impression collection server 214 checks the opt-out flag120 to determine whether the user has elected to opt out ofparticipating in third-party tracking. If the opt-out detector 218determines the opt-out flag 120 indicates that the user has opted out ofthird-party tracking, the AME impression collection server 214 doesnothing further based on the server-to-server ping at reference number238. That is, the media impression logged in the AME media impressiondatabase 216 for the accessed media remains an anonymous impression,without associating it with any demographics of the user.

If the AME impression collection server 214 determines that the opt-outflag 120 indicates that the user has not elected to opt out ofparticipating in third-party tracking, the AME impression collectionserver 214 sends corresponding ones of the third-party device/useridentifier(s) 228 from the server-to-server ping to corresponding onesof the database proprietors 220 a-b at reference number 242 along with arequest for corresponding user information. In this manner, the AMEimpression collection server 214 can obtain user information 222 a-bfrom the database proprietors 220 a-b, corresponding to the user of theclient device 104 and the mobile device 204 at reference number 244. Forexample, the AME impression collection server 214 identifies which ofthe third-party device/user identifier(s) 228 correspond to which of thedatabase proprietors 220 a-b, such that the identifier(s) 228 are usableby the database proprietors 220 a-b to look-up corresponding userinformation 222 a-b. For example, if the database proprietor 220 a is awireless carrier, the AME impression collection server 214 sends one ofthe third-party device/user identifier(s) 228 that is an IMEI number tothe database proprietor 220 a, because as a wireless carrier, thedatabase proprietor 220 a stores the user information 222 a inassociation with the IMEI number. In some examples, the AME impressioncollection server 214 selects an industry-standard device/useridentifier, such as an Apple Ad-ID from the third-party device/useridentifier(s) 228 to send to one or both of the database proprietors 220a-b. In such examples, the industry-standard device/user identifier isaccessible and usable by any participating database proprietor 220 a-bto store in association with user information 222 a-b. As such, anydatabase proprietor 220 a-b can use the industry-standard device/useridentifier to return corresponding user information 222 a-b for a userof the client device 104 and the mobile device 204 to the AME 108.Examples that may be used by the AME impression collection server 214 todetermine which ones of the third-party device/user identifiers 228correspond to which database proprietors 220 a-b are disclosed inBurbank et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,930,701, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

When the AME impression collection server 214 receives the userinformation 222 a-b from the database proprietors 220 a-b at referencenumeral 244, the AME impression collection server 214 stores the userinformation 222 a-b in the AME media impressions database 216 inassociation with a logged impression to log a demographic impression. Insome examples, the database proprietors 220 a-b send user-level userinformation 222 a-b to the AME impression collection server 214 atreference number 244. In other examples, the database proprietors 220a-b send aggregate user information 222 a-b to the AME impressioncollection server 214 at reference number 244 for the correspondingmedia being measured. For example, the AME impression collection server214 may send the database proprietors 220 a-b numerous third-partydevice/user identifiers 228 corresponding to numerous users who accessedthe same media being measured. In such examples, the databaseproprietors 220 a-b can return user information 222 a-b in the aggregatefor all of the numerous users. In this manner, the database proprietors220 a-b does not reveal specific user-level demographics about specificones of their subscribers to the AME 108. Instead, in such aggregateuser information, the AME 108 receives collections of demographicbuckets or groups showing percentages or numbers of people in differentdemographic segments that accessed the media being measured (e.g., ofall the users that accessed the media, 23% of media impressionscorresponded to 18-25 year-old males (M18-25), 20% of media impressionscorresponded to 18-25 year-old females (M18-25), etc.).

FIG. 3 depicts flow diagrams representative of example machine-readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the exampleserver-to-server communicator 210 and the example AME impressioncollection server 214 of FIG. 2. The flow diagrams of FIG. 3 include anexample server-to-server communicator process 302 and an example AMEserver process 304. Initially, at the example server-to-servercommunicator process 302, the example server-to-server communicator 210obtains the subscriber ID 118 (block 306). For example, theserver-to-server communicator 210 receives the subscriber ID 118 fromthe main website server 112 at reference numeral 234, as described abovein connection with FIG. 2. The example server-to-server communicator 210then obtains the third-party device/user identifier(s) 228 and theopt-out flag 120 (block 308). For example, the server-to-servercommunicator 210 obtains the third-party device/user identifier(s) 228and the opt-out flag 120 from the subscriber profiles database 114 basedon the subscriber ID 118, as described above in connection with FIG. 2.The example server-to-server communicator 210 sends the third-partydevice/user identifier(s) 228, the opt-out flag 120, and a mediaidentifier to the AME 108 (block 310). For example, the exampleserver-to-server communicator 210 uses a server-to-server ping orcommunication to send the third-party device/user identifier(s) 228, theopt-out flag 120, and the media identifier of the media to be measuredto the AME impression collection server 214 at reference number 238 asdescribed above in connection with FIG. 2.

Turning to the AME server process 304, the AME impression collectionserver 214 logs a media impression for the accessed media to be measured(block 314). For example, the AME impression collection server 214 logsthe media impression in the AME media impressions database 216 based onthe media identifier received from the server-to-server communicator 210at block 310. The example opt-out detector 218 (FIG. 2) determineswhether the user has elected to opt out of participation in third-partytracking (block 316). For example, the opt-out detector 218 determineswhether the opt-out flag 120 indicates that the user has elected to optout of participation in third-party tracking. If the user has elected toopt out of third-party tracking (block 316), the example process 304ends. In such examples, the media impression logged in the AME mediaimpressions database 216 at block 314 remains an anonymous mediaimpression in that it is not associated with any user demographics.

If the opt-out detector 218 determines at block 316 that the user hasnot elected to opt out of third-party tracking, the AME impressioncollection server 214 sends one or more of the third-party device/useridentifier(s) 228 to one or more corresponding database proprietor(s)220 a-b (block 318). For example, the AME impression collection server214 sends the one or more third-party device/user identifier(s) 228 tothe one or more corresponding database proprietor(s) 220 a-b with arequest for user information at reference number 242, as described abovein connection with FIG. 2. The AME impression collection server 214 thenreceives user information 222 a-b from the one or more databaseproprietor(s) 220 a-b (block 320). For example, the AME impressioncollection server 214 receives the user information 222 a-bcorresponding to the one or more third-party device/user identifier(s)228, as described above in connection with reference number 244 of FIG.2. The AME impression collection server 214 then logs a demographicimpression (block 322). For example, the AME impression collectionserver 214 uses the user information 222 a-b to log the demographicimpression based on the media impression logged in the AME mediaimpressions database 216 at block 314. The AME impression collectionserver 214 generates an impression report (block 324). For example, theAME impression collection server 214 generates a user-level oraggregate-level impression report based on the demographic impressionsand/or anonymous media impressions logged in the AME media impressionsdatabase 216 for media that the Internet media provider 102 hascontracted the AME 108 to track or measure. In this manner, the AME 108can deliver the impression report to the Internet media provider 102.For examples, as shown in the server-to-server communicator process 302,the server-to-server communicator 210 receives the impression report(block 326) from the AME 108. In such examples, the Internet mediaprovider 102 can use such impression reports to make decisions forspending advertising dollars and/or for pricing advertising spaceavailable to entities interested in advertising on webpages of theInternet media provider 102 and/or in connection with media served bythe Internet media provider 102. Additionally or alternatively, theInternet media provider 102 can use such impression reports to verifythat it is displaying media (e.g., advertisements or content) to thedemographic groups requested by advertisers or mediapublishers/producers/creators. In some examples, instead of theserver-to-server communicator 210 receiving the impression report 326from the AME 108, the Internet media provider 102 may receive theimpression report from the AME 108 using any other suitable means ofcommunication including, for example, email, file transfer protocol(FTP) transmission, mail, courier, HTTP transmission, etc. The exampleprocesses 302, 304 then end.

While example manners of implementing the example server-to-servercommunicator 210, the example opt-out detector 218, and the example AMEimpression collection server 214 are illustrated in FIG. 2, one or moreof the elements, processes, and/or devices illustrated in FIG. 2 may becombined, divided, rearranged, omitted, eliminated, and/or implementedin any other way. Further, the example server-to-server communicator210, the example opt-out detector 218, and/or the example AME impressioncollection server 214 of FIG. 2 may be implemented by hardware,software, firmware and/or any combination of hardware, software and/orfirmware. Thus, for example, either of the example server-to-servercommunicator 210, the example opt-out detector 218, and/or the AMEexample impression collection server 214 could be implemented by one ormore analog or digital circuit(s), logic circuits, programmableprocessor(s), application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)),programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or field programmable logicdevice(s) (FPLD(s)). When reading any of the apparatus or system claimsof this patent to cover a purely software and/or firmwareimplementation, at least one of the example server-to-servercommunicator 210, the example opt-out detector 218, and/or the exampleAME impression collection server 214, is/are hereby expressly defined toinclude a tangible computer-readable storage device or storage disk,such as a memory storage device, a digital versatile disk (DVD), acompact disk (CD), a Blu-ray disk, etc. storing the software and/orfirmware. Further still, the example server-to-server communicator 210,the example opt-out detector 218, and/or the example AME impressioncollection server 214 of FIG. 2 may include one or more elements,processes, and/or devices in addition to, or instead of, thoseillustrated/described in connection with FIG. 2, and/or may include morethan one of any or all of the illustrated/described elements, processes,and devices.

The flow diagrams of FIG. 3 are representative of examplemachine-readable instructions for implementing the exampleserver-to-server communicator 210, the example opt-out detector 218, andthe example AME impression collection server 214 of FIG. 2. In theseexamples, the machine-readable instructions implement programs forexecution by processors such as the processor 412, shown in the exampleprocessor platform 400 discussed below in connection with FIG. 4, and/orthe processor 512, shown in the example processor platform 500 discussedbelow in connection with FIG. 5. The programs may be embodied insoftware stored on a tangible computer-readable storage medium, such asa CD-ROM, a floppy disk, a hard drive, a digital versatile disk (DVD), aBlu-ray disk, or a memory associated with the processor 412 and/or theprocessor 512, but the entire program and/or parts thereof couldalternatively be executed by a device other than the processors 412, 512and/or embodied in firmware or dedicated hardware. Further, although theexample programs are described with reference to the flow diagramsillustrated in FIG. 3, many other methods of implementing the exampleserver-to-server communicator 210, the example opt-out detector 218,and/or the example AME impression collection server 214 mayalternatively be used. For example, the order of execution of the blocksmay be changed, and/or some of the blocks described may be changed,eliminated, or combined.

As mentioned above, the example processes of FIG. 3 may be implementedusing coded instructions (e.g., computer- and/or machine-readableinstructions) stored on a tangible computer-readable storage medium,such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-only memory (ROM), acompact disk (CD), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a cache, arandom-access memory (RAM), and/or any other storage device or storagedisk in which information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extendedtime periods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarilybuffering, and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, theterm tangible computer-readable storage medium is expressly defined toinclude any type of computer-readable storage device and/or storage diskand to exclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media. Asused herein, “tangible computer-readable storage medium” and “tangible,machine-readable storage medium” are used interchangeably. Additionallyor alternatively, the example processes of FIG. 3 may be implementedusing coded instructions (e.g., computer- and/or machine-readableinstructions) stored on a nontransitory computer- and/ormachine-readable medium, such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, aread-only memory, a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, a cache, arandom-access memory, and/or any other storage device or storage disk inwhich information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extended timeperiods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarily buffering,and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, the termnontransitory computer-readable medium is expressly defined to includeany type of computer-readable storage device and/or storage disk and toexclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media. As usedherein, when the phrase “at least” is used as the transition term in apreamble of a claim, it is open-ended in the same manner as the term“comprising” is open-ended.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example processor platform 400 capableof executing the machine-readable instructions of the server-to-servercommunicator process 302 of FIG. 3 to implement the exampleserver-to-server communicator 210 of FIG. 2. The processor platform 400can be, for example, a server, a personal computer, or any other type ofcomputing device. The example processor platform 400 may be used toimplement the main website server 112 of FIGS. 1 and 2 and/or the appserver 206 of FIG. 2. In some examples, the main website server 112 andthe app server 206 may be implemented separately. In such examples, eachof the main website server 112 and the app server 206 may be implementedbased on the processor platform 400 as described below. In otherexamples, the main website server 112 and the app server 206 may beimplemented as one server based on the processor platform 400 asdescribed below. In yet other examples, the example processor platform400 may be used to implement a separate processor system of the Internetmedia provider 102 that includes the subscriber profiles database 114 ofFIGS. 1 and 2 and/or the server-to-server communicator 210 of FIG. 2. Insuch other examples, the separate processor system implemented by theprocessor platform 400 does not include the main website server 112 orthe app server 206, but it is in communication with the main websiteserver 112 and/or the app server 206 to access the third-partydevice/user identifier(s) 228 and/or the subscriber ID 118.

The processor platform 400 of the illustrated example includes aprocessor 412. The processor 412 of the illustrated example is hardware.For example, the processor 412 can be implemented by one or moreintegrated circuits, logic circuits, microprocessors, or controllersfrom any desired family or manufacturer. In the illustrated example, theprocessor 412 implements the server-to-server communicator 210.

The processor 412 of the illustrated example includes a local memory 413(e.g., a cache). The processor 412 of the illustrated example is incommunication with a main memory, including a volatile memory 414 and anonvolatile memory 416, via a bus 418. The volatile memory 414 may beimplemented by synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), dynamicrandom access memory (DRAM), RAMBUS Dynamic Random Access Memory(RDRAM), and/or any other type of random-access memory device. Thenon-volatile memory 416 may be implemented by flash memory and/or anyother desired type of memory device. Access to the main memory 414, 416is controlled by a memory controller.

The processor platform 400 of the illustrated example also includes aninterface circuit 420. The interface circuit 420 may be implemented byany type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, auniversal serial bus (USB), and/or a PCI express interface.

In the illustrated example, one or more input devices 422 are connectedto the interface circuit 420. The input device(s) 422 permit(s) a userto enter data and commands into the processor 412. The input device(s)can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, a microphone, acamera (still or video), a keyboard, a button, a mouse, a touchscreen, atrackpad, a trackball, isopoint, and/or a voice recognition system.

One or more output devices 424 are also connected to the interfacecircuit 420 of the illustrated example. The output devices 424 can beimplemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light-emittingdiode (LED), an organic light-emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystaldisplay, a cathode ray tube display (CRT), a touchscreen, a tactileoutput device, a printer, and/or speakers). The interface circuit 420 ofthe illustrated example, thus, typically includes a graphics drivercard, a graphics driver chip, or a graphics driver processor.

The interface circuit 420 of the illustrated example also includes acommunication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, amodem and/or network interface card to facilitate exchange of data withexternal machines (e.g., computing devices of any kind) via a network426 (e.g., an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line (DSL), atelephone line, coaxial cable, a cellular telephone system, etc.). Theinterface circuit 420 of the illustrated example may be configured tocommunicate with the client device 104 and/or the mobile device 204 toreceive the subscriber identifiers 118 and/or the third-partydevice/user identifier(s) 228 from the mobile device 204 and/or toreceive the Internet media provider device/user ID 232 from the clientdevice 104.

The processor platform 400 of the illustrated example also includes oneor more mass storage devices 428 for storing software and/or data.Examples of such mass storage devices 428 include floppy disk drives,hard drive disks, compact disk drives, Blu-ray disk drives, RAIDsystems, and digital versatile disk (DVD) drives. In the illustratedexample, the mass storage device 428 stores the subscriber profilesdatabase 114 of FIGS. 1 and 2.

Coded instructions 432 to implement the machine-readable instructionsrepresented by the server-to-server communicator process 302 of FIG. 3may be stored in the mass storage device 428, in the volatile memory414, in the nonvolatile memory 416, and/or on a removable tangiblecomputer-readable storage medium, such as a CD or DVD.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an example processor platform 500 capableof executing the machine-readable instructions of the AME server process304 of FIG. 3 to implement the example opt-out detector 218 and/or theexample AME impression collection server 214 of FIG. 2. The processorplatform 500 can be, for example, a server, a personal computer, or anyother type of computing device. In some examples, the opt-out detector218 may be implemented in the AME impression collection server 214. Insuch examples, the processor platform 500 implements the AME impressioncollection server 214 and the opt-out detector 218. In other examples,the example processor platform 500 may be used to implement a separateprocessor system of the AME 108 that includes the opt-out detector 218.In such other examples, the separate processor system implemented by theprocessor platform 500 does not include the AME impression collectionserver 214, but it is in communication with the AME impressioncollection server 214 to access the server-to-server pings orcommunications obtained from the server-to-server communicator 210 asrepresented by reference number 238 of FIG. 2.

The processor platform 500 of the illustrated example includes aprocessor 512. The processor 512 of the illustrated example is hardware.For example, the processor 512 can be implemented by one or moreintegrated circuits, logic circuits, microprocessors, or controllersfrom any desired family or manufacturer. In the illustrated example, theprocessor 512 implements the opt-out detector 218.

The processor 512 of the illustrated example includes a local memory 513(e.g., a cache). The processor 512 of the illustrated example is incommunication with a main memory, including a volatile memory 514 and anonvolatile memory 516, via a bus 518. The volatile memory 514 may beimplemented by synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), dynamicrandom access memory (DRAM), RAMBUS Dynamic Random Access Memory(RDRAM), and/or any other type of random-access memory device. Thenon-volatile memory 516 may be implemented by flash memory and/or anyother desired type of memory device. Access to the main memory 514, 516is controlled by a memory controller.

The processor platform 500 of the illustrated example also includes aninterface circuit 520. The interface circuit 520 may be implemented byany type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, auniversal serial bus (USB), and/or a PCI express interface.

In the illustrated example, one or more input devices 522 are connectedto the interface circuit 520. The input device(s) 522 permit(s) a userto enter data and commands into the processor 512. The input device(s)can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, a microphone, acamera (still or video), a keyboard, a button, a mouse, a touchscreen, atrackpad, a trackball, isopoint, and/or a voice recognition system.

One or more output devices 524 are also connected to the interfacecircuit 520 of the illustrated example. The output devices 524 can beimplemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light-emittingdiode (LED), an organic light-emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystaldisplay, a cathode ray tube display (CRT), a touchscreen, a tactileoutput device, a printer, and/or speakers). The interface circuit 520 ofthe illustrated example, thus, typically includes a graphics drivercard, a graphics driver chip, or a graphics driver processor.

The interface circuit 520 of the illustrated example also includes acommunication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, amodem and/or network interface card to facilitate exchange of data withexternal machines (e.g., computing devices of any kind) via a network526 (e.g., an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line (DSL), atelephone line, coaxial cable, a cellular telephone system, etc.). Theinterface circuit 520 of the illustrated example may be configured tocommunicate with the server-to-server communicator 210 of FIGS. 2 and 4to receive server-to-server pings or communications as shown byreference number 238 of FIG. 2. In addition, the interface circuit 520of the illustrated example may be configured to communicate with thedatabase proprietors 220 a-b to send corresponding ones of thethird-party device/user identifier(s) 228 (received via server-to-serverpings from the server-to-server communicator 210) to corresponding onesof the database proprietors 220 a-b and to obtain user information 222a-b from the database proprietors 220 a-b.

The processor platform 500 of the illustrated example also includes oneor more mass storage devices 528 for storing software and/or data.Examples of such mass storage devices 528 include floppy disk drives,hard drive disks, compact disk drives, Blu-ray disk drives, RAIDsystems, and digital versatile disk (DVD) drives. In the illustratedexample, the mass storage device 528 stores the AME media impressionsdatabase 216 of FIG. 2.

Coded instructions 532 to implement the machine-readable instructionsrepresented by the AME server process 304 of FIG. 3 may be stored in themass storage device 528, in the volatile memory 514, in the nonvolatilememory 516, and/or on a removable tangible computer-readable storagemedium, such as a CD or DVD.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the above disclosedmethods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture enable Internet mediaproviders to partner and work with audience measurement entities and/orthird-party database proprietors to measure Internet activities ofnon-opt-out users so that impressions can be logged for media accessedvia the Internet by those non-opt-out users and so that the demographicscorresponding to such non-opt-out users can be obtained withoutcompromising the privacy safeguards elected by the opt-out users.Examples disclosed herein additionally or alternatively enable obtainingsuch demographics corresponding to non-opt out users without violatingcorporate policies of Internet media providers and/or databaseproprietors such as policies against Internet universe resource locator(URL) calls being made outside the domain(s) of the Internet mediaproviders and/or database providers, policies against downloadingsoftware not written or provided by the Internet media providers and/ordatabase proprietors. In this manner, the Internet media providersand/or database proprietors can have more control over performance(e.g., website speed), more control over user experience, more controlover software configuration management (e.g., to better control softwarebeing run on their websites, to substantially reduce or prevent HTTP 404Not Found error messages, etc.), and limiting risk of malware from beingdownloaded to users of the Internet media providers and/or databaseproprietors via third parties.

Disclosed example methods include obtaining a third-party deviceidentifier or user identifier corresponding to a client device;obtaining an opt-out flag indicative of whether a user of the clientdevice has elected not to participate in third-party trackingcorresponding to online activities; sending the third-party deviceidentifier or user identifier, the opt-out flag, and a media identifierto an audience measurement entity, the media identifier corresponding tomedia accessed via the Internet; and receiving, from the audiencemeasurement entity, an impression report corresponding to the media. Insome disclosed example methods, the client device is an over-the-topdevice or a smart television. In some disclosed example methods, thethird-party device identifier or user identifier is at least one of anAd-ID, an Identifier for Advertisers, a Google Advertising ID, or a RokuID. In some disclosed example methods, receiving the impression reportincludes receiving demographic information in association with a loggedimpression corresponding to the media. In some disclosed examplemethods, the third-party tracking corresponding to the online activitiesis third-party tracking corresponding to activities at a webpage of anInternet media provider. In some disclosed example methods, the mediaidentifier corresponds to the media accessed via the webpage of theInternet media provider. Some disclosed example methods further includeobtaining a subscriber identifier corresponding to a registered user ofan Internet media provider. Some disclosed example methods furtherinclude determining the third-party device identifier or user identifierbased on the subscriber identifier.

Disclosed example apparatus include a processor, a server-to-servercommunicator, and a communication interface. In such disclosed exampleapparatus, the processor is to: access a third-party device identifieror user identifier corresponding to a client device; and access anopt-out flag indicative of whether a user of the client device haselected not to participate in third-party tracking corresponding toonline activities. In such disclosed example apparatus, theserver-to-server communicator is to send the third-party deviceidentifier or user identifier, the opt-out flag, and a media identifierto an audience measurement entity, the media identifier corresponding tomedia accessed via the Internet. In such disclosed example apparatus,the communication interface is to receive, from the audience measuremententity, an impression report corresponding to the media. In somedisclosed example apparatus, the client device is an over-the-top deviceor a smart television. In some disclosed example apparatus, thethird-party device identifier or user identifier is at least one of anAd-ID, an Identifier for Advertisers, a Google Advertising ID, or a RokuID. In some disclosed example apparatus, receiving the impression reportincludes receiving demographic information in association with a loggedimpression corresponding to the media. In some disclosed exampleapparatus, the third-party tracking corresponding to the onlineactivities is third-party tracking corresponding to activities at awebpage of an Internet media provider. In some disclosed exampleapparatus, the media identifier corresponds to the media accessed viathe webpage of the Internet media provider. In some disclosed exampleapparatus, the processor is further to access a subscriber identifiercorresponding to a registered user of an Internet media provider. Insome disclosed example apparatus, the processor is further to determinethe third-party device identifier or user identifier based on thesubscriber identifier.

Disclosed example articles of manufacture include machine-readableinstructions that, when executed, cause a processor to at least: accessa third-party device identifier or user identifier corresponding to aclient device; access an opt-out flag indicative of whether a user ofthe client device has elected not to participate in third-party trackingcorresponding to online activities; send the third-party deviceidentifier or user identifier, the opt-out flag, and a media identifierto an audience measurement entity, the media identifier corresponding tomedia accessed via the Internet; and receive, from the audiencemeasurement entity, an impression report corresponding to the media. Insome example articles of manufacture, the client device is anover-the-top device or a smart television. In some example articles ofmanufacture, the third-party device identifier or user identifier is atleast one of an Ad-ID, an Identifier for Advertisers, a GoogleAdvertising ID, or a Roku ID. In some example articles of manufacture,receiving the impression report includes receiving demographicinformation in association with a logged impression corresponding to themedia. In some example articles of manufacture, the third-party trackingcorresponding to the online activities is third-party trackingcorresponding to activities at a webpage of an Internet media provider.In some example articles of manufacture, the media identifiercorresponds to the media accessed via the webpage of the Internet mediaprovider. In some example articles of manufacture, the instructions areto further cause the processor to access a subscriber identifiercorresponding to a registered user of an Internet media provider. Insome example articles of manufacture, the instructions are further tocause the processor to determine the third-party device identifier oruser identifier based on the subscriber identifier.

Disclosed example methods include logging a media impression for a mediaidentifier representative of media accessed via the Internet; based on auser not having elected to not participate in third-party trackingcorresponding to online activities, sending a third-party deviceidentifier or user identifier corresponding to the user to a databaseproprietor; receiving user information from the database proprietorbased on the third-party device identifier or user identifier; logging ademographic impression based on the media impression and the userinformation; and generating an impression report corresponding to themedia based on the demographic impression. Some disclosed examplemethods further include obtaining an opt-out flag from an Internet mediaprovider from which the media is accessed; and determining that the userhas not elected to not participate in third-party tracking based on theopt-out flag. In some disclosed example methods, the media is accessedvia the Internet using an over-the-top device or a smart television. Insome disclosed example methods, the third-party device identifier oruser identifier is at least one of an Ad-ID, an Identifier forAdvertisers, a Google Advertising ID, or a Roku ID. In some disclosedexample methods, generating the impression report includes associatingdemographic information with a logged impression corresponding to themedia. In some disclosed example methods, the third-party trackingcorresponding to the online activities is third-party trackingcorresponding to activities at a webpage of an Internet media provider.In some disclosed example methods, the media identifier corresponds tothe media accessed via the webpage of the Internet media provider. Insome disclosed example methods, the user information includes at leastone of demographics, purchase data, or behavior data corresponding tothe user.

Disclosed example apparatus include a database, a communicationinterface, and a processor. In such disclosed example apparatus, thedatabase is to store a logged media impression for a media identifierrepresentative of media accessed via the Internet. In such disclosedexample apparatus, the communication interface is to send a third-partydevice identifier or user identifier corresponding to the user to adatabase proprietor when a user has not elected to not participate inthird-party tracking corresponding to online activities; and receiveuser information from the database proprietor based on the third-partydevice identifier or user identifier. In such disclosed exampleapparatus, the processor is to log a demographic impression based on themedia impression and the user information; and generate an impressionreport corresponding to the media based on the demographic impression.In some disclosed example apparatus, the communication interface isfurther to obtain an opt-out flag from an Internet media provider fromwhich the media is accessed, and the processor is further to determinethat the user has not elected to not participate in third-party trackingbased on the opt-out flag. In some disclosed example apparatus, themedia is accessed via the Internet using an over-the-top device or asmart television. In some disclosed example apparatus, the third-partydevice identifier or user identifier is at least one of an Ad-ID, anIdentifier for Advertisers, a Google Advertising ID, or a Roku ID. Insome disclosed example apparatus, the processor is to generate theimpression report by associating demographic information with a loggedimpression corresponding to the media. In some disclosed exampleapparatus, the third-party tracking corresponding to the onlineactivities is third-party tracking corresponding to activities at awebpage of an Internet media provider. In some disclosed exampleapparatus, the media identifier corresponds to the media accessed viathe webpage of the Internet media provider. In some disclosed exampleapparatus, the user information includes at least one of demographics,purchase data, or behavior data corresponding to the user.

Disclosed example articles of manufacture include machine-readableinstructions that, when executed, cause a processor to at least: log amedia impression for a media identifier representative of media accessedvia the Internet; based on a user not having elected to not participatein third-party tracking corresponding to online activities, send athird-party device identifier or user identifier corresponding to theuser to a database proprietor; receive user information from thedatabase proprietor based on the third-party device identifier or useridentifier; log a demographic impression based on the media impressionand the user information; and generate an impression reportcorresponding to the media based on the demographic impression. In somedisclosed articles of manufacture, the instructions are to further causethe processor to: obtain an opt-out flag from an Internet media providerfrom which the media is accessed; and determine that the user has notelected to not participate in third-party tracking based on the opt-outflag. In some disclosed articles of manufacture, the media is accessedvia the Internet using an over-the-top device or a smart television. Insome disclosed articles of manufacture, the third-party deviceidentifier or user identifier is at least one of an Ad-ID, an Identifierfor Advertisers, a Google Advertising ID, or a Roku ID. In somedisclosed articles of manufacture, the instructions are to cause theprocessor to generate the impression report by associating demographicinformation with a logged impression corresponding to the media. In somedisclosed articles of manufacture, the third-party trackingcorresponding to the online activities is third-party trackingcorresponding to activities at a webpage of an Internet media provider.In some disclosed articles of manufacture, the media identifiercorresponds to the media accessed via the webpage of the Internet mediaprovider. In some disclosed articles of manufacture, the userinformation includes at least one of demographics, purchase data, orbehavior data corresponding to the user.

Although certain example methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacturehave been disclosed herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is notlimited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods,apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope ofthe claims of this patent.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus, comprising: means for storing alogged media impression for a media identifier representative of mediaaccessed via the Internet; means for communicating to: send athird-party device identifier or a user identifier corresponding to theuser to a database proprietor when a user has not elected to notparticipate in third-party tracking corresponding to online activities;and receive user information from the database proprietor based on thethird-party device identifier or the user identifier; and means forprocessing to: log a demographic impression based on the mediaimpression and the user information; and generate an impression reportcorresponding to the media based on the demographic impression.
 2. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the means for communicating is to receivean opt-out flag in a server-to-server communication at a first serverassociated with an audience measurement entity from a second serverassociated with an Internet media provider.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2,wherein the means for processing is to determine that the user has notelected to not participate in the third-party tracking based on theopt-out flag from the second server associated with the Internet mediaprovider.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the media is accessed viathe Internet using an over-the-top device or a smart television.
 5. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the third-party device identifier or theuser identifier is at least one of an Ad-ID, an Identifier forAdvertisers, a GOOGLE Advertising ID, or a ROKU ID.
 6. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the means for processing is to generate the demographicimpression by associating demographic information from the userinformation with the media impression corresponding to the media.
 7. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the third-party tracking corresponding tothe online activities is third-party tracking corresponding toactivities at a webpage of an Internet media provider.
 8. Anon-transitory computer readable medium comprising machine-readableinstructions that, when executed, cause a server to at least: obtain athird-party device identifier or a user identifier corresponding to aclient device; obtain an opt-out flag indicative of whether a user ofthe client device has elected not to participate in third-party trackingcorresponding to online activities; send a server-to-servercommunication including the third-party device identifier or the useridentifier, the opt-out flag, and a media identifier to an audiencemeasurement entity, the media identifier corresponding to media accessedvia the Internet; and receive, from the audience measurement entity, animpression report corresponding to the media.
 9. The non-transitorycomputer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the client device is anover-the-top device or a smart television.
 10. The non-transitorycomputer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the third-party deviceidentifier or the user identifier is at least one of an Ad-ID, anIdentifier for Advertisers, a GOOGLE Advertising ID, or a ROKU ID. 11.The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein theinstructions are to cause the server to receive demographic informationin association with a logged impression corresponding to the media. 12.The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein thethird-party tracking corresponding to the online activities isthird-party tracking corresponding to activities at a webpage of anInternet media provider.
 13. The non-transitory computer readable mediumof claim 8, wherein the instructions are to cause the server to obtain asubscriber identifier corresponding to a registered user of an Internetmedia provider.
 14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim13, wherein the instructions are to cause the server to determine thethird-party device identifier or the user identifier based on thesubscriber identifier.
 15. An apparatus, comprising: means for accessinga third-party device identifier or a user identifier corresponding to aclient device and an opt-out flag indicative of whether a user of theclient device has elected not to participate in third-party trackingcorresponding to online activities; means for sending the third-partydevice identifier or the user identifier, the opt-out flag, and a mediaidentifier to an audience measurement entity, the media identifiercorresponding to media accessed via the Internet; and means forreceiving, from the audience measurement entity, an impression reportcorresponding to the media.
 16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein theclient device is an over-the-top device or a smart television.
 17. Theapparatus of claim 15, wherein the means for receiving is to receivedemographic information in association with a logged impressioncorresponding to the media.
 18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein thethird-party tracking corresponding to the online activities isthird-party tracking corresponding to activities at a webpage of anInternet media provider.
 19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein themeans for accessing is to access a subscriber identifier correspondingto a registered user of an Internet media provider.
 20. The apparatus ofclaim 19, wherein the means for accessing is to determine thethird-party device identifier or the user identifier based on thesubscriber identifier.